Thai culture is unique and wonderful, very different from my own warm South African upbringing. We first noticed this in 2014, when we first arrived in Thailand, and quickly learned about appropriate ways to behave in public using gestures which are considered acceptable and normal. However, after arriving from our first home assignment it felt like we had to go through it all over again.
We were so excited to get back to Thailand after 6 months in S.A. How would our Thai friends react when they saw us again? We didn’t think about all that because for 6 months we traveled throughout S.A seeing family and friends again after 2.5 years, it was loud, intimate (hugs and kisses) and waving while still far off.
But we quickly had to ‘snap out of it’, and remember to smile, wai and bow slightly while inwardly containing the urge to hug or speak loudly. Imagine the embarrassment after our feverish waves were returned with a smiles, bows and wais. All part of our daily learning experience as church planters in South Thailand.

Choi became a member of our church when he took baptism in October 2016. Even before he took baptism, he attended church regularly for almost a year. He cannot read or write and his speech is slurred, he is “special”. He is the kind of person, who makes people laugh- at him. They make jokes...

There is a peculiar village outside of Chiang Mai called “House of Two gods”. At first I wondered if there had been some kind of mythical battle in the past between two rival gods … a kind of Buddhist version of the “Battle of the Titans”. But it turns out there is a temple in...

One day, I was giving some of the new Christians a ride into town in our car. As I drove, I noticed that one of the elderly Christian ladies raised her hands and bowed as we passed a prominent spirit house that was located on the road into town. It had been set up near...

Thai people love to eat and have even coined a phrase, “gin prumprua”. It is hard to translate, but basically means that the Thai love to snack throughout the day and center their social interaction around food. I recently read an article entitled, “A Surprising Reason Not to Ban Coffee and Donuts From the Sanctuary”....

Last month, the parents of a local believer showed interest in learning more about Jesus. Praise God, that the mom has taken the step of faith and was baptized a few weeks ago! It is a joy to see the light in her eyes as she shares stories of things that God is doing in...

We had been living in Thailand for just over 9 months and as a family we had adjusted well on most fronts. Our kids, up until now, had risen to the challenge of distance education, a different way of life to the one they were used to and many different foods. Then rather suddenly our middle...

Since my marriage in 1978 I have lived in 30 houses. I just moved into my most recent domicile today after spending the last couple of months in a guest room at the top of the Bible school I teach in here in Chiang Mai , Thailand. I was counting up the number of towns...

“There seem to be more of them than last time,” I was thinking out loud. We were passing a plot of land with many hammocks strung between the trees. It’s located next to a parking lot for school buses and opposite of two schools. “Very practical to have so many hammocks in that spot...

We came to a noodle shop and general store, and there we found Uanbu sitting at a table. We sat down to talk with him, as Theerachai shared the prodigal son story, using an OMF poster-preaching flipbook with big illustrations of key points in the parable. After twenty minutes or so, Uanbu was still hungry...